New York: Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) in the US are studying the effectiveness of an arthritis drug in treating a type of severe immune overreaction seen in patients with Covid-19 induced pneumonia in a Phase 3 clinical trial.
The clinical trial is enrolling patients at the Harris Health System’s Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital in Houston, Texas.
The Phase 3 study is evaluating the effectiveness of the drug canakinumab, an interleukin-1 (IL-1) blocker approved for the treatment of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, for preventing cytokine release syndrome (CRS) in Covid-19 patients with pneumonia.
Often referred to as a cytokine storm, CRS is a life-threatening immune reaction caused by the body releasing too many cytokines into the blood at once.
Cytokines include a broad category of proteins secreted by the body.
Interleukin-1 serves as the first-line defence for the immune system, alerting other proteins to respond if a virus or bacteria are present.
Canakinumab blocks the production of IL-1 protein, which could prevent a possible deadly overreaction of the immune system in Covid-19 patients.
Research has linked a number of Covid-19 deaths to CRS due to damage caused to several major organs. (IANS)
